Among The Dead OC Story
by PandoraBryth
Summary: Join Minako Satoru and her colleagues as they fight their way through hell on Earth, trying to find a cure for the living dead. The eight must ban together and fight side by side. Will they survive, or fall? Characters taken for now. PandoraBryth, HOTD.
1. Instructions and my OC

**Original Characters!**

**DISCLAIMER:**

I do not own any characters but my own. The plot does not belong to me but instead the creators of HOTD. I only write the story. All credit to the creators of the characters and Highschool of the Dead. Saeko is badass. ^-^ The end.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

This takes place in the same school, same time, as the original HOTD characters are in. I will allow three girls and three boys. Please post your applications in reviews, it will be easier for me to check there. This story is rated M for gore, fighting, and.. if you're signing up for this, you already know why.

**IN ORDER TO JOIN:**

**Name: **Seriously, people. Please do not name your person something like Amanda Hugginkiss, or something stupid in that nature. An actual name, please?

**Age:** Well, considering it's called High School of the Dead...

**Personality: **pretty detailed, but please don't write a whole book.

**History:** Before the incident, what their life was like.

**Appearance: **Be pretty descriptive, and if you want, add a picture in your profile.

**Weapons: **Two or three. One main, and two backups, most likely.

**Strengths: **What is this person good at?

**Weaknesses: **Above. ^^

**Sexuality: **What are they interested in.. men, women? Animals? o-o

**Love Interest: **Who do they love? Such as, are they single? Is there someone they like?

**Right Before Incident: **Where were they? Gym? Library? I don't care, just somewhere we can find you.

**Misc: **As known as, other, etc., whatever you want to call it.

**MY CHARACTER:**

**Name: **Minako Satoru

**Age:** Sixteen, Sophomore in school.

**Personality: **Minako is an intelligent girl, and pretty serious. She doesn't joke around alot, and has a bit of a temper. She's the one that tends to make the plans in the group, and direct people where to go, but definitely isn't afraid to fight. She is quite distant, and never shows any signs of emotions. She is not shy at all, and will not be afraid to get up in anyones face, but often doesn't, remaining calm in most situations. She acts cold to most, even to those she loves, but she is afraid of getting too attatched and then losing the person. She gets jealous really easily, and is very arrogant and stubborn most of the time. She acts like this most of the time because of insecurity caused by her parents. She can be impolite and rude, but doesn't mean to.

**History:** Instead of most of the girls in her school, she wouldn't want to go out and socialize, but instead stay home and sword fight with some of the people her parents hired for her to 'socialize' with. Her parents never really got time to be with her, both being pretty high up in politics, which is part of the reason why she is so insecure and distant, never really having someone to have love her. Her parents were never really home when she was, so she learned to close off the world around her and just do her own thing.

**Appearance: **Don't let Minako's cute little look trick you, as said above, she isn't one to be messed with. Sure, she looks like she'd be an adorable, playful one, but seriously, she isn't. Minako has fiery, long red hair, and sometimes puts it up in pigtails. She has soft, pink eyes, though to make up for that, she gives a heck of a death glare. When in school, she wears her uniform, the average white and green, you know. Though after fighting, and when she has the chance to change, she puts on some brown shorts, a brown tank (sort of like Saeko's in ep. 9), long black stockings, and some running shoes, then ties her hair up. And to get into 'detail', she wears a green bra and panties, and has quite a 'chest'.

**Weapons: **When the outbreak first started, she was stuck with a tennis racket, which she surprisingly found useful. She uses it for awhile, swinging it and smashing the tops of their heads with the broken wire, then later will upgrade into a katana. She also keeps two handguns with her, finding them in a deserted police car.

**Strengths: **Minako is quite intelligent and can plan battle stratedgies in a few seconds. She also is pretty skilled when it comes to sword/tennis racket play. She's a pretty good gymnist because of all the training she got from her parents' employees.

**Weaknesses: **She's arrogant, and too stubborn when it comes to plans. She is sort of slow when it comes to running. She bottles things up inside of her, and is the type of girl who won't be bothered when something happens, but will cry about it at night. She has quite the temper, and will smack you with her racket if you stare at her chest.

**Sexuality: **She's heterosexual, or interested in men.

**Love Interest: **She has liked someone since she first started school, but has never come out to them, or spoken to them about it.

**Right Before Incident: **She was in gym, playing tennis, when the announcement was distributed, and she heard her principal be eaten alive. While trying think over the school plans, and how she could easily get out, she was pushed by the stampede of girls out of the gym doors, and was forced to fend for herself with a tennis racket.

**Misc: **She's super insecure, as said before, but doesn't display it. And.. as for the love interest.. I don't know yet, I just put that out there. xD Most likely one of our characters, though.

Well, that's my OC. Make away! Also, don't be afraid to suggest being a friend or whatever you want of my character!

- Pandora


	2. The Character Files

**EEEEK!**

Hello everyone! Many people applied already in PM and reviews, wow! And by many, I mean loooots. And in just one night! We had many well-developed, awesome characters, but unfortunately I am only taking in, yes, that's right, not now six, seven! I realized that having uneven numbers is odd. No hard feelings on the results, right?

Anyways...

***DRUMROOLLLLLL!***

These are the people I have selected to be in my story for the start, more added soon:

**Boy 1: **Arashi Kitsuneo

**Boy 2: **Sicarius Nox

**Boy 3: **Avis Barb

**Boy 4: **Zethenali Kuroki

**Girl 1: **Katsumi Nagamitsu

**Girl 2: **Harminly Kuroda

**Girl 3: **Claudine Estoda

**LET'S EXPLAIN:**

Here is why I chose these characters...

Arashi Kistuneo

Arashiiii. :3I chose Arashi because I loved his personality. It's just so dynamic and interesting, and I am pretty sure he will make a huge impact in our story. And, basically... I just love him.? xD

Sicarius Nox

Ahhh! We already have confirmed my obsession with Lupus and his stories.. ;3I decided Sicarius for reasons I have already told our creator. I just looove how he acts, and same with Arashi, I'm pretty sure his actions and thoughts will be a pretty big part in our story.

Avis Barb

I fell in love with Avis when I read about him. Considering he is said to be generous, and pretty humorous, it stating he likes to joke around every once in awhile, I thought his jokes and tricks could brighten the mood of the team. (:

Zethenali Kuroki

Zethenali was such an interesting character for me. I loved how you made him so unbelievably negative as a character, though he has a bit of light in him. For example, you made him a perverted jerk, but told me when the group really needed help, he would be there for them, and everything. Plus, I think we wil have some fun with his perverted side. x''D

Katsumi Nagamitsu

Oooh Kaya, you know why you're accepted. You're my friend in real life! I think we can definitely explore Katsumi's mean side and have a bit of fun with the other characters, who aren't so fortunate in the school's 'food chain'.

Harminly Kuroda

I laughed a bit at Harm. Just how she beat brains with a freaking zombie, I thought that was hilarious. x"D And also, I like how she can totally kick ass when she wants, but otherwise is the sloth of the group. I can see her having a great part in our group when it comes to the time.

Claudine Estoda

The cocky little french girl. I love her! I can see her quite similar to Katsumi in a way. Maybe you two can arrange they were friends? Anyways, I love in the PM, how you told me she would always boast about coming from France and being extremely rich, and having French cultures.. and basically, her being a show-off.

**I'm so sorry to everyone who did not get in! However, keep in mind, some of you that I have received, I am keeping your characters in mind for later on, in case anything comes up and I need a new character, or perhaps, I just want you in! But for now I am sticking with these characters and have personally contacted everyone who is in. The usernames (for pure credit) will be revealed in the next chapter, after I message everyone and make sure they are sure they want to be put in. It's not that they will be actually making the story, I just need to make sure they are comfortable with me using their OC. Thank you for your participation!**


	3. Beginning of the Dead

"This way!" a small, red-headed girl yelled, taking a sharp turn. Seven other students followed behind her, all carrying the most obscure sources of defense you could find. She looked back and to see the people running behind her. One had a guitar, another the end of a mop, and something a bit more sensable, a cleaver, and it went on. Though she decided she wouldn't judge someone because of that, since it was a last minute thing, and she herself had a tennis racket. It was odd. She hadn't seen one of them for a few minutes. Another sharp turn, and Minako stopped herself, then held her arm out to stop everyone that was running behind her.

"Speak of the devil.." someone muttered behind her, so she nodded. Minako figured that someone had equivelent thoughts to her. She didn't bother to check on who it was saying that, though it sounded like a male.

"Minako.. why are you stopping? Come on, I know you're a girl, and all this running hurts you, considering you are a small, weak, and puny girl, but this is a zombie apocalypse!" Zethenali whispered in a hushed tone, pointing towards the undead with his weapon, a baseball bat.

Minako turned around immediately and raised her tennis racket, some drips of blood raining down on the floor. "Listen you sexist pig! You are not allowed to, and _never_, _never ever_ be able to call me Minako! So hush up, I'm analyzing our escape!" she fumed in reply, flailing her arms like a maniac. Though when she looked back down at him, she realized he wasn't staring at her face, but instead he chest. Her face turned red, almost the exact same shade of her hair, and next thing he knew, his face was red as well, though only in the cheek, where a dainty hand mark shape laid.

"Uhm.. Mina- I mean, Satoru-san.." murmered a voice from the back. Some of the group moved out of the way, showing two boys in the back, both with silvery hair. The one on the left, with crimson eyes, was the one that spoke.

"What is it that you want?" Minako spat, cradling her tennis racket in one arm. The only reply she got was a small nod. The redhead turned around a bit, then fixed her eyes on the janitor. A pale janitor, with bloodshot eyes, no pupil, and teeth that made the British feel proud of their ivory. It lifted it's arms up slowly, it's fingertips just about to grasp her clothing and turn her into one of it's own, though she was faster than it would ever be. Within seconds, she found herself over the body, head smashed, blood splattered over the locker. A bit got on her skirt, she didn't care. She turned her attention back to the zombies, now billions swarming them.

"You yelled a bit too loud," said Sicarius, the one who had pointed out the zombie before, though he only got a shrug of the shoulders in reply.

"Ohhh my gawshh! Someone, pinch me! Wake me upp! Please! This blood _sooo _does not compliment my eyes!" shrieked a blonde little prep. Everyone, except Minako, who was 'analyzing' an escape, as the lifeless people trudged for her, glared at Katsumi.

"I can do it," snickered Harminly, another blonde girl. She reached over, between two people, and pinched Katsumi's side, and listened to her complain more about how that hurt.

Everyone soon stepped up to the plate when they realized Minako was in need of assistance. From the struggles they had already, fighting off maybe thirty or fourty zombies, they all figured out that they would have problems later. That was, if there was a later.

**Three Hours Earlier...**

"Ow.." Avis Barb muttered a bit as the rather meaty and overloaded on makeup nurse sprayed almost the whole can of anti-ceptic spray on a tiny little cut that he had received from being a clutz, and falling down on concrete. "I think that's enough," he said, pulling his arm was from her sausage fingers.

"Boohoo, lovely," she said, smiling her yellow smile. "Now how about the bandage, lovely?" Ms. Yoshimure, the nurse's name, rolled over on her spinny-chair, grabbed some gauze from a drawer, and wheeled back over to the sophomore, then proceeded wrapping his arm approximately sixteen times. She snorted at her 'artwork', then asked if he wanted her autograph on the wrap. Before he could answer, she pulled him into another room, trying to find a pen, so she could give him a 'little memory'. Avis sighed and let himself be pulled along.

"And that is why our current leader has been in press for awhile.." said the sensei, concluding everything on his chalkboard. He turned back around to his students and flipped the little tip of his hair, and put on a 100-watt smile, causing all the girls to sigh, and lean a bit forward on their desks. Or, at least, most of the girls. In the back row laid Harminly Kuroda, arms crossed over the top of her head, cheek laying against the desk. Some students tried throwing small pieces of paper at her, attempting to wake her up, though the pieces of paper would only disappear into the curls that they weren't supposed to hit. She had dreams about a class session that actually didn't put her to sleep. Of course it was a dream, she would have to think after everything. A class that actually didn't bore her to the point where she had to lay down and drift off.. she couldn't even call that a dream. More like folklore, or a fairytale. As known as,_ impossible_.

"Hey Minako! Get out of the books!" exclaimed Katsumi, from across the gym. She chucked a tennis ball right at Minako, then laughed with all her wannabes as it struck her forehead, landed in her book, and caused her to lose her page.

Minako put the book down and stood up, got right into the tennis court, and snatched a racket right from a brunette girl with her hair all fancy. She shoved her out of the way, and glared right at the stereotypical school bitch.

"Oh, is this a challenge? From an ugly, loser bookworm, to a beautiful, popular cheerleader? Let's win, girls! Katsimi yelled, noticing her take the place of another girl.

Minako hissed and watched the blonde leap up, then send a light green ball right towards her. She responded with a simple sideways swing, then watched the ball soar over the net, and land out of bounds. She smirked at the expression, and watched the girls on the other team huddle together, and whisper quite loudly about how she seemed good and it looked like she wasn't trying.

Soon, all the girls were broken apart, and fixed their hair, and primped up, then turned to face Minako again. Katsumi was the one to speak for the group, though she didn't exactly follow the orders on what they all decided to say. Instead, she almost screamed, "Beginner's luck! B-E-G-uhhh... I'm not a loser who actually takes the time to spell, like you! But I say we still play!"

Minako got a dangerous, competitive look in her eye. "You're on!" she yelled in reply.

Zethenali Kuroki stood in the hallways, watching girls pass by, observing their chests, and watching their 'backside' move. He chuckled, seeing one girl bend over to pick up a book her friend had dropped. He almost whistled, though he remembered he would probably get slapped, and if he did, he would break his record for slaps in a day. That's right, twenty-seven. If he got one more, it would then be twenty-eight. His cheek kind of hurt from all of them today, so he figured he would pass. Besides, when the girl turned around, she wasn't all that attractive. So why waste his time? He grinned and leaned against a wall, propping his right foot up. He loved the ladies.

Claudine Estoda was in the ladies bathroom, fixing her curly hair, and putting on her girly makeup, and boasting to some girls who were in there with her about how she was getting a designer dress for Spring Break, when she would go back to France and attend the classiest dance in the whole universe, and that it was even classier than the ones in Italy. Then she fixed the pearl clip she used to pin her bangs on the top of her head, and fixed the little poof above.

Arashi Kistuneo sat in his room, skipping classes that day. He was positioned before a small shrine of his sister, her picture and bo-staff. He prayed for her, just like he did basically everyday. He prayed, and prayed for awhile. In fact, until he heard his stomach growl. Arashi did pray for her a little bit more after that, until his stomach couldn't bare the abandonment, and he found himself pushing the shrine back into a small storage closet he had, so no one else could destroy it. That would be such an annoyance. Arashi got up and exited his little apartment, then made his way back to school. When arriving, he began to wander aimlessly around the hallways.

Sicarius laid on the roof of his school wooden katana next to him. He didn't know why he was always sleeping up there, rather than going to school, but then he remembered. Everyone at school was a bully. Everyone was nothing but cruel. Of course, he was exaggerating. He couldn't say everybody. But if it was to be everybody or nobody, he would have to go with everybody. Sicarius resumed his dreams after pointless thoughts, dreaming about not much. Like usual, his dreams were interrupted, but not by the usual student, coming to pick on him about his hair and eyes. He never let that bother him, anyways. But this awakening, it wasn't a person.. well, it was. A girl. A blood-curling scream, too. He jolted awake and got to his feet as soon as possible, then ran towards the edge of the roof, looking on towards the gate, where the scream came from. A pale man stood on the outside of the gate, shuffling towards, trying to get in. Sicarius raised an eyebrow. What kind of idiot couldn't see a gate in his way? Then he looked down at a woman, to be more specific, a female gym teacher, pointing down at a limp male gym teacher, screaming. He was dead. No wait, he wasn't. He got up.

"Mr. Maki, you're ali-!" the gym teacher was then interrupted by another one of her screams. Sicarius gaped, watching the male sensei latch onto the female, and bite her neck. He watched blood look like a fountain, pouring out from her. He made his way for the stairs. He had to tell the school.

Just when he had reached the hall, everything seemed silent as an announcement went over intercom.

_"Attention students. Please, evacuate according to your teacher's instructions. Do not panic. Please evacute. Do not panic. Stick with your tea- Mr. Ichijo! Get away! Don't come near! No! N-!"_

The intercom cut off. Soon, the whole hallway was filled with students, screaming, trying to escape. The place was hell.

* * *

><p>Soon, Minako found herself running down the hall with her worst enemy, the two defending each other from <em>them<em>. To tell you the truth, Minako was the one doing most of the fighting, though it was already pretty obvious. Minako sprinted down a hallway, dodging the lazy swipes from the zombies. When most were cleared out, and Katsumi was allowed to jog ever so slowly down the hallway, with Minako facing her, telling her to hurry up, or else she would leave her there to die and then come back to life, she finally caught up with the redhead. Minako turned back around to find more trudging after the two. Minako swung the her tennis racket around a bit, then waited for them to approach a bit. She chuckled a bit, then found herself charging right towards them. When her old history teacher was about to grab her, she dove for the floor and slid along, under tons of their legs. She sprinted right back towards them and started towards the walls. Being somewhat of an acrobat, she flipped over a few and slid back as well. Her plan was, confuse them. Everytime she landed, they turned back around, and started for her. Could they see her? She didn't know, but it was sort of working, considering this allowed Katsumi to sneak up and slice them to bits.

After some more confusion, and lots of blood in the hallway, Katsumi was just about to scream about the blood that drenched her flawless skin, blonde hair, and pure white school dress, when Minako cupped her hand over her mouth, told her to shut up, and pulled her by the wrist down hallways. She bolted for the stairs, the only noise they could hear was the clack of their shoes, and the moans of the undead. None bothered to chase her. She knew why, though. Every single hallway she turned in, they were already feasting on other people. Their numbers were increasing, and those who still took in air were starting to cease. She gulped and kept running, until she made it to the tile stairs. She leaped up them and up another set, when she heard a big slam and a scream. Katsumi's scream.

When she turned back around, she was the popular girl tangled with two boys. She wildly swung her cleaver. Minako smacked on in the head, and pretty hard, then watched him untangle and land on the floor, with a tiny groan. She quickly grabbed the cleaver from Katsumi without thinking, and tossed it besides her, ignoring the sliver of blood on her hand from taking it by the blade. She helped Katsumi out from underneath the other boy, then kneeled next to the one she hurt.

"I'm sorry.. I thought you were dead," she said in a rather calm way, assisting the boy with standing up.

"That hurt.." the silver-haired boy mumbled, rubbing his noggin.

"I said sorry.." Minako replied in a low tone, changing the topic quickly. "I'm Minako.. this is Katsumi.."

"Sicarius is me.. and this is Arashi," said the boy with the new bump on his head, introducing himself first, then pointing to his friend, that looked rather similar.

"Weren't you the one who said I was an idiotic loner?" Arashi said quietly, looking in the direction of Katsumi.

Katsumi raised her hand and giggled, "Guilty!" She battered her eyelashes, then smiled a flirty smile.

Minako bopped her on the head with her tennis racket as well, getting a bit of crimson 'rain' in her hair. Though Katsumi was too into flirting with the boys to realize that. Minako shook her head.

Soon, a few more students appeared, all holding their weapons high, ready for defense. There was a girl with short brown hair, holding a pipe that looked like it was from a bathroom. Another was a boy with black hair, holding a bat. Then another girl, blonde hair, with a guitar. Last, a brunette boy, holding the stick that held a mop together.

"A little late," Sicarius said, pointing to his head.

"Sorry.. are you all okay?" asked the girl with short hair, looking too perfect to be fighting.

"Yeah," Arashi said. "Except for...her.. She got cut," he added on, after a while of hesitation, not sure what to call Minako.

Minako looked at her hand, seeing the blood had smeared a bit. She shrugged and wiped it on her green skirt. "I'll be fine."

"Want some of my gauze? The nurse.. overdid it," said the brunette boy, holding his arm out to show the wrap. He got a shake of a head in return, so he lowered his arm. "Uhm.. Okay, I'm Avis."

"My name is Claudine. Fashionista of school!" said the short-haired girl, lowering her bathroom pipe.

"Harminly.. call me Harm," said the blonde with a sneer, and a small giggle.

"And Zethenali's the name," said the last, black-haired boy, with an elfish smile. "Hello ladies," he said, pushing his hair back, so it was more slick.

Minako rolled her eyes at the last boy, and she was pretty sure everyone else was. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the reminder that tons of screams were around her, and the population of students was slowly dwindling. "We need to get out of here," she said, lowering her voice a bit so no one else could hear them. Especially zombies, just incase.

"We should go to the teacher's lounge first.. get supplies," Claudine said. The rest nodded, but then she spoke again. "Does anyone know where the lounge is? I don't pay attention, fashion is the only thing on my mind."

Minako shook her head. "Get it off your mind, this is an apocalypse." She got in front of everyone and started leading them through almost deserted hallways. She didn't want to risk being spotted by a zombie, or seeing someone she knew be eaten alive.

After endless walking, she stopped in her tracks. What looked like a billion of _them_, though it was probably just about twenty, stood before them, clacking their teeth, and walking aimlessly around.

Arashi shrugged and got ready to fight. Most followed his example.

Minako whiped her racket from one side to another. The blood that sat in the small compartments and rested in the weave splatted off onto the ground, making quite the pattern.

"GOOOO!" Harminly yelled.

Everyone charged.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Kind of long and slow, yes? I guess I was just kind of trying to ease into fighting. I included brief gestures of people already fighting, but I don't want to get into it right away. Well, I do, but.. it's just kind of an introduction. Just everyone meeting each other. I hope you like it's boringness and longness! More action is bound to come, believe me. Just wait until chapter twwwoooo! :3 Thanks for reading! **ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE CREATORS OF THE CHARACTERS. MINAKO SATORU IS MINE AND MINE ONLY.**


	4. Running in the Dead

Arashi and Sicarius ran through the crowd of _them_, sweeping their weapons around, taking _them_ out left and right. Their bodies flung like they were filled with air. Everytime Minako turned to look at the boys, she saw at least one of them smiling. So they thought this was fun? Minako huffed and turned back to the crowd of _them_ that was advancing on her, slowly.

"Baka," she muttered, before raising her racket and hitting one in square in the neck with the metal side. That one toppled over, causing another to fall under it. When there was an opening for her to leave that circle, she stepped over the two that laid there on the dirty tile. Minako ran over to Katsumi, who was just slicing the air, hoping to get two of _them_ that were coming towards her. One just snatched her hair, when Minako shoved the butt of her tennis racket right through the butt of it's shoulder blade, shoving it up against a locker. She pulled the end out of it's pale skin, threw her racket in the air, and caught the handle. Grabbing it's white cloth shirt, of course patched with blotches of red, she twisted it around. Studying the face it _it_, she immediately knew who it was.

"Sorry, Mr. Bei.." Minako said aloud, before shoving it into the locker again and smacking it's face with the racket's sweetspot. She turned to Katsumi, who was off fighting another group of _them_. She rolled her eyes and turned back around, going off to find a new fight.

Zethenali and Harminly stood back-to-back, circled by all sorts of _them_. Teachers, students, janitors.. There were at least ten of them surrounding.

"I have an idea," Zethenali stated, hooking around with Harminly without her questioning him. Zethenali spun around, letting her kick _them _all away. When those had been cleared out, he bent over and let her flip off him. Harminly used the flip as a little spring and ran into another battle, he shrugged and followed her, going after some more of _them_. They weaved through, smashing and jumping and kicking.

Claudine cowered near stairs, screaming encouragement to the group. She hoped they could hear over all the other screams that ran throughout the school. "GO! GO! COME ON, AVIS! YEAH, HIT HIM WHERE IT HURTS! YOU TOO, SICARIUS! OOOOOH, IF THEY WEREN'T DEAD THEY WOULD BE CUH-_RYINGGGGG!_" she yelled, leaning against the toilet pipe. She caught a glare from Minako, and the look in her eyes definitely said 'fight or shut up'. She closed her mouth and just sat there, looking out for any _them_.

A zombie lumbered over to the short-haired French girl, and just stood in front of her when arriving next to her. From the look in it's lazy eyes, it made Claudine think it was looking for her, but couldn't find her somehow. She raised her eyebrows and just stayed quiet, hoping it would go away soon. The zombie opened it's mouth, and definitely caused Claudine's nose to scream, die, come back to life, and die again. It reaked, like blood, people's organs, and fish? The zombie let a moan out, and a small drip of blood from it's teeth went down and landed splat on Claudine's newly polished shoes. She gaped, grabbed her pipe, and stuck the sharp end that broke from earlier, right into it's chest.

"You ruined my shoes!" she screamed, lifting the pipe, _it _still stuck on the end. She cracked her wrist and sent _it_ flying off into a few more. Claudine got a crazed look in her eyes. "MY SHOES!" Some more of _them_ came trudging towards her again, she raised her pipe, ready to rumba. No one messed her fashion up. NO ONE. Claudine swung the pole around, sending tons of _them_ off into another hallway.

Avis was surrounded by quite a few of _them_. He swung his metal pole somewhat like a baseball bat, sending a few into others, which caused the other ones to collapse as well. He turned to four more, all girls. They wore outfits that the alive girls were wearing, so he could definitely tell that they were students. Avis, trying to identify them, completely forgot about the state of chaos he was in, surrounded by _them_. It was only until a brunnette one grabbed at him, chomping down on her own teeth to signal she was ready to eat him. Avis, using his instincts, stuck the metal pole out immediately, getting her stuck on the end. He shook it about a bit, trying to get her off, and knocking over the rest in the process. Avis slammed her up against a side wall, then pulled her away from it and flung her to the side, the zombie finally detatching from the pole. He observed the wall he had slammed one of _them_ into just seconds ago, seeing a trail of red splat on the wall. Avis was just about to crack a joke to himself about it, when he heard a scream come from a girl across the room.

Avis looked over to find the pink-eyed girl kicking at one of _them_, weaponless. He looked around for her racket she was using, but then realized her life was way more important.

"Get away from me! I wanna go home!" Minako screamed, voice trembling. From what Avis could tell, she was actually crying. He had only met her maybe ten minutes ago, but on how fierce she looked, acted, and was rumored to be, he never thought he would see her crying. He looked around for someone to save her, then back at her, at the point where she had to put her hands on it's shoulders to push it away. Everyone else was occupied, so he would have to go. Avis ran as fast as he could towards her, passing through his new companions, and tons of _them_. He seemed too close to them, in fact, he was. He felt their slow, disgusting breath on his neck. Every time he heard a scream, or saw blood splatter somewhere, he felt a shiver go down his back. He wasn't sure on who's scream it was, or who's blood had just been drawn. He turned his attention right back to Minako, who he was closer to now. When finally in reach of the zombie, he jumped a bit, pole over his head.

When his feet his the ground,he closed his eyes and brought the metal down with him, all his arm force focusing on impaling _it_. When eyes were opened, he saw the limp, pale body of his old gym teacher laying on Minako, and his head right next to her. Avis still heard her scream and bawl. She probably thought it had got her. He used his 'staff' to roll the body off of her and knelt down next to her, only to get smacked in the face.

"Dammit!" Avis yelled, putting his mop pole down and grabbing her wrists, to stop her from punching thin air. "Open your eyes, quit crying! Get your racket, you're all good.."

Minako immediately opened her eyes and yanked her hands away from him. "I wasn't crying.." she mumbled, standing up quickly. She hustled over to where _it_ tossed her weapon, snatched it up, and ran over to assist Sicarius and Arashi.

Avis sighed and shook his head, rubbing where Minako smacked him. He grabbed his pole from where he put it down to restrain her, then stood back up and ran back into the heat of the battle. Their numbers were slowly decreasing, which was pretty good. He still thought they could do better.

Minako soon appeared next to Sicarius and Arashi, trying to forget about that whole scene that just played. She backed up him and Arashi from the behind, so none of _them_ could sneak up from the behind and do anything. She couldn't have anybody die and become one of them. If one person in the new team fell, the whole team would.

Soon the hallway was cleared out, except for the eight standing, and the bodies of all they had taken out. A few started to lower their knees and sit down.

"Don't," Sicarius said quickly, before anyone could actually touch the ground. "We need to keep going, find the teacher's lounge. Surviviors. I don't know.. we just need to keep going.. Mina- Satoru-san.. lead the way."

Arashi, one who was remained standing, opened his mouth, ready to speak, though was quickly interrupted by his own sound on confusion. Arashi looked down at his arm, finding Katsumi latched onto his arm, battering her eyelashes again. "Ehh..!" he said, not sure on what else to say.

"Can I walk next to you? I'm.. I'm scared," Katsumi said, her tone sounding more like she wanted him in her bed then protecting her from _them_.

Arashi almost made the same exact noise of distress. Katsumi confused him, flustered him. Just earlier today, she was saying he was an idiot that would die alone, and now she was sounding like she wanted to be with him. "Uh... yeah, sure.. you can walk with me," he choked, grimacing as he said so. Arashi then observed Katsumi jump around in glee.

Minako rolled her eyes and mumbled to herself. "Baka.. both of them.. Just stay calm, Minako.. you're incredible, you'll get yourself out of this," she whispered with a sigh, turning to Sicarius and Avis, the only ones that weren't exactly occupied with a girl, looking off into the space, or making sure their shoes still looked good with blood splattered around them. "Come on.. if they're smart enough, they'll follow," she told them, her tone dull, and somewhat mockingly.

Sicarius began to follow Minako, who went down a few empty halls. He looked back every few seconds to make sure everyone was following, until he finally counted all of them behind him, so he turned his attention back to following the 'leader', who walked pretty fast. Whilst speed-walking, he looked around at lockers and walls, floors and windows. Broken, bloody, battered... whatever you wanted to call it. Just... not in normal condition.

Minako finally stopped in front of a door and opened it wide. She stepped in the room and held her racket close, in stance, just in case one of _them_ decided to pop out from anywhere in the room. She observed her surroundings. Tables, knocked over chairs, the smell of coffee lingering in the room. A laptop opened wide, tons of files opened. Confidential files about school. "Everyone, come in.." Minako said, her voice hoarse. She put her racket down on the third table that was in the room, then went over to a television that hung over the second table. Minako attempted to reach it, getting on her tiptoes. When offered help by someone much taller than her, she scoffed and pointed out she could do it. Minako stepped away from the television and scanned the tables and under then.

Sicarius bent down and picked up a remote that was flipped over by his feet. He advanced towards Minako, who was bending down, trying to find what he possessed. Sicarius tapped her shoulder and watched her almost bump her head. When she finally was standing straight, she gave him a look that could shoot down airplanes, but she quickly took it back.

Sicarius cleared his throat, "The remote, Satoru-sa-"

"My friends call me Minako," she interrupted, adverting her gaze to everyone that was behind him. She took the remote from him and turned her back on them all, raising the remote and clicking the power button. She began to flick through channels, trying to find a news station.

Zethenali grinned and looked at Minako's behind, while repeating her name over and over again. "Hey Minako. You missed the channel Minako! Minako! Look! Katsumi is getting medicine, Minako! Heey, Minak-ow!"

Harminly snickered at Zethenali's pain, taking her hand away from his head, where she. "We have telepathy, she told me you were annoying her." Harminly made her way over to a couch that was burrowed in the corner and collapsed down on it with a yawn. "When are we gonna kick some zombie butt?" she asked, not to anyone in general.

Arashi, now freed from the grip of the queen bee, walked over to the computer and began to read what was opened up. An email from the vice principal to the police station. "Email? Isn't that too slow to contact?" he asked himself aloud, though no one replied. Some blood was plastered on the screen. It was dry, so he could obviously tell it was from a while ago. That meant they obviously were here earlier.

Avis, the only one remaining by the door, closed it tight, locked it, then got a chair that was flipped over next to him. He propped it up against the door's brass handle, then stepped away and looked at what he had done. He thought that would be enough to hold _them_ off, in case they came, then went over to Katsumi, who was in a supply closet, piling medicines into a duffel bag she had just found. He started pushing all the antidotes into the bag with her, because there were too many for just one person to handle.

"Aha!" Minako exclaimed, putting the remote down on a table next to her. She jumped up on the counter and watched, pushing one of her long ponytails behind her shoulder, so she could watch without disturbances.

"No one is sure of where this all started. The police are enforcing the law and doing whatever they can to protect their citizens. Please, stay indoors unless necessary. If special advisement is given, follow those orders. Stay ca- No! Get Away!" The last image you saw was the cute reporter with the pixie cut throwing her microphone, before the camera dropped, a scream sounded from the speakers, and the screen turned into black and white in a wrestle match.

Minako raised her eyebrows and jumped off the counter. She headed over to the coffee machine and grabbed a white cup with a small chip in the rim. Minako put the cup under the small slot and flicked the button, watching the black mixture pour into her mug. When filled, she took the cup away from the machine. Minako didn't put anything in the coffee, she kept it strong. Bringing the cup up to her lips, she took a small sip. After, she placed it on the table and looked around at everyone, who returned the look. Minako paused for a few moments, waiting for someone to say something.

"I think I know how we can avoid _them_.." Claudine said, everyone's gaze now shifting to her. She ran four fingers through her hair, then spoke up, realizing no one was going to ask what it was. "Uhm.. we have to be quiet."

"What?" Arashi asked, closing the laptop. He had just zoned in.

"Yes.. earlier, when I was encouraging-"

"Distracting," Minako scoffed.

Claudine's muscles seized at Minako's harsh tone. "Anyways.. one of _them_ came up to me.. I was silent, it just stood there. Like it didn't see me."

Arashi frowned and thought about it. "Are they blind? We should test it.."

Sicarius forced a cough. "But who would be stupid enough to go in the middle of tons of _them_?"

Minako picked her coffee up again and looked down at it, suddenly losing interest in it's taste. She put the cup back down and began to pace around, her finger up to her chin, in deep thought. "Use your words wisely. Perhaps brave, instead of stupid.. We would need someone agile.. someone who can fight well.. Meaning we eliminate Claudine and Katsumi.. And myself, I can't exactly.. run. Also.. you two," she paused, looking at Arashi and Sicarius. She continued to pace, "no offense.. but, it's just.. I've seen faster."

Harminly sat up quickly, faster than lightning. "I can do it!" She grinned and stood up, brushing the lint from the couch off of her green skirt. "I mean, those zombies can't take me down. I'm too fast and strong for them!"

"Don't be so contemptuous. May I remind you that those things out there are flesh-eating _zombies_? One bite and you're done for," Sicarius pointed out, leaning against a corner.

"Reeee-lax! I'm too fast for them. Don't worry about me, worry about yourself, the 'Silver Sloth'," Harm said in reply, referring to his hair.

Minako rolled her eyes at the insult and turned her back to the group, opening a drawer and going through it's belongings.

Avis and Katsumi exited the supply closet, toting a huge duffel bag that could barely be zipped up. Avis took it from Katsumi, because she seemed to struggle, and put it down on the counter, next to the remote.

"Who's carrying that?" Claudine asked, pointing to the bag. She cantered over to it, unzipping the rest of the bag. She picked up a small cylinder of syringe. "Wow, did you bring the whole closet?"

Zethenali walked over to the bag as well, looking at everything. He picked up a few viles and read the labels. "Tongue Wart Remover? Medicine for measles? Geez, someone's real supportive of our health!"

"Katsumi is carrying it, considering she doesn't fight much," Avis said, giving the new medic a sideways look. "And it's better to be safe than sorry!"

Katsumi changed the topic that most were discussing at the moment, "So this is our new group?"

Everyone shrugged, then nodded.

"Who's our leader?" Claudine asked, taking off her shoes, finally decided the blood didn't compliment her hair.

"Uh.." Arashi said, glancing between everyone.

"Simple. We will not act upon our own self-interest, but instead work as a team. No leader. If we are to be lead by someone, we will do nothing but be jealous, let it get to our head. If someone is to be in a higher position, who knows what will happen," Minako announced, now coming into the conversation.

Zethenali sounded a bit confused. "Really? Because I was thinking I could be the leader.. I mean, I'm strong, I'm fast, I'm ho-"

"You wish, Kuroki!" Harminly bellowed, standing up straighter than a ruler. She pointed her finger at him, jumping up and down now. "I'd be a better leader than you anyday! And I should be lea-!"

"Shush! We've already gone along our theory, haven't we? They react to sound," Minako pointed out, eyes obviously displaying annoyance.

"I agree with Minako. We can't get leadership to our head," Sicarius stated, looking over to Arashi.

"As do I," Arashi implied, looking to Avis, another one of the only people who didn't seem into the whole 'leader' thing.

"I guess I'm with you guys," Avis declared, looking at the other four for their replies.

"I'll do whatever Arashi does!" Katsumi exclaimed, jumping up and down with glee.

"Now we don't care what you say, that's how it will be," Minako said, looking to the others.

Claudine nodded and went into a bathroom hidden in the corner, bringing her shoes along. She planned on scrubbing them, hoping they would soon shine again, enough to where she could use them as a mirror again.

Zethenali and Harminly sighed in unison and agreed that they would follow the rules just distributed.

"Good.." Minako retorted, going over to the counter the computer was on. She closed it up and tucked it under her arm, then searched for another bag.

"Let's grab what we need," Sicarius said, going into drawers and looking for things like knives, or whatever would be useful.

Arashi followed his example, though looked in another closet on the opposite side of the room. Katsumi ran after him, blubbering about how she would help him.

Avis shouldered the medicine bag for Katsumi while she searched for things, now left alone in the center of the room, while the rest did whatever they were doing.

Zethenali and Harminly looked around for food together. They found cans, granola bars, crackers, bottles of water, and even after told no by Harminly, Zethenali decided to sneak in two packs of energy drinks.

After all packed, everyone grabbed their weapons, ready to go. Over Katsumi's shoulder was the bag of medicine, over Claudine's the bag of food and the laptop inside. The six fighters surrounded the door, all ready to go.

"Wait," Sicarius said, going back over to the table. He grabbed a red cellphone and pocketed it in one of the trench coat's inside pockets, then returned to everyone, once again ready to go. "Let's do this," he said.

Avis pulled the chair away form the door and Zethenali unlocked it.

Opening it up, Minako and her new friends were greated by a few of _them_. Like most, Minako couldn't help but to chuckle. With their pale skin, sitting there like big losers. For some reason, she felt blissful. The room seemed to shape her up. She raised her tennis racket slammed the grate down on the top of the head, watching it fall down in it's ocean of companions. Minako, watching them all fall onto the floor. She even heard a window crash off to the side. Minako stepped over the fallen ones and looked out the huge crack in the now broken window. On the ground, the concrete had splat all over it. Minako looked to her left, seeing a small ledge. "Guys, this is the front of the school.. according to my calculations, from walking, the gate should be about seven and a half minutes away.. but with the interruptions of fighting.. ugh.. what annoyance... it will take about thirteen and a third of a minute."

"That's too accurate.. how do you know this?" Harminly questioned, following after Minako like the rest. She watched her raise her tennis racket and slam it into the window.

"What was that for?" Avis asked, pointing to the window that she had smashed, causing a pretty loud sound.

"Escape," Minako said, sticking part of her leg out of the window. She searched for the ledge, until her foot found it. Minako put her weight back on the foot, then slowly climbed out the window, until she was standing up against the wall. "Come on, you guys. With that crash, they'll be here any minute.."

Soon, the team stood on top of a building in the school. Overlooking the view, they could see the courtyard, surrounded with students, though none were actually alive. They were either being devoured, or became one of _them_.

"They were so close to escape," Sicarius said, standing next to Minako.

"Guys.. what if that happens to us?" Claudine whined, sniffling a bit.

"Don't be such a big baby. I'm strong, I can protect us all," Harminly said, glaring at Zethenali, who was trying to pinch her for some unknown reason.

Zethenali stopped when he caught her glare and straightened up, tossing his bat around all fancy-like. "Yeah, you wish. I could take all these zombies out in seconds," he boasted, putting on a charming smirk.

"Be my guest," Arashi muttered, referring to his boasting.

"I will be safe as long as I'm with Arashi," Katsumi giggled, grabbing onto his sleeve. She battered her eyelashes, even though he wasn't looking.

Finally, being the smooth guy he wasn't, Zethenali tossed the bat up one last time. Determined to catch it, his finger missed and the bat slammed against the pavement. Everything went silent, except for the bat, rebounding off the concrete.

Suddenly, thousands of moans erupted, and billions _them_ started making their way over to the group.

"You idiot!" Minako screamed on first instinct.

"No time for yelling!" Sicarius said, grabbing her by her wrist and beginning to run up the stairs. Minako yanked her wrist away, like usual, and grabbed his, instead, pulling him back.

"No.. now, we fight."

Zethenali snatched his bat up quick and got a pinch in the side from Harminly, which seemed to be hre favorite place to hurt someone.

Katsumi and Claudine, being the medic-like people, and too into fashion to join them. The two grabbed hands and ran off together into the shadows, where they couldn't be seen.

Minako and Harminly, the only two girls left, looked at each other with a little eyeroll. Just because they had the gear didn't mean they couldn't fight.

Zethenali, Sicarius, Avis, and Arashi got in stance as well. As soon as the first zombie came to the stairs, the two girls charged.

Harminly smashed _it_ in the side with the next of her guitar, the smashed the top of it's head with it. She watched _it _fall down and hit the floor, a trail of crimson blood dripping slowly behind it. Harminly laughed and went for another, beating the crap out of it with her guitar.

Minako held the racket close and kicked the zombie square in the stomach, causing it to double over and fall down the stairs, hitting the floor pretty hard. The next came up to her and swiped it's arms around like a maniac. Minako put her hands on the railing and lifted her legs up with her, forcing herself into a handstand on the rail. Minako let the zombie pass her, then flipped off of the rail, adding some extra pizzaz with her extra, unnecessary flip in the air. She landed on both feet and turned her racket to the thin side, jabbing the zombie in the back with it. The zombie fell down and started to slide down the stairs, right in her path. Minako jumped up and let it pass her, then landed right before she could jump on it's battered up head. She watched the zombie go down the stairs, then flip over and slam into the wall at the end. She smirked.

Zethenali battled some of _them _that had reached the top, in which Harminly and Minako had missed. He swung the bat, doing all sorts of things with it. Hitting them like they were baseballs, in the head, in the chest, wherever. Smacking them over the head, and even sometimes jumping off things and landing on them, or plain kicking them just anywhere in general.

Sicarius had tons swarming around him, though that didn't stop him from anything. He could hit tons of them at a time, spinning around and everything. He was really skilled, from what lots could see. Sicarius smacked one straight in the ribs and watched it tumble over a few that were behind it. He turned to another group that was advancing on him, one even grabbing onto his coat and about to snack on him. Sicarius took this opportunity to lift his leg up and basically uppercut him with his foot. The one that grabbed him flew back into it's companions, nearly leaving it's hand behind so it would still be on his coat, though it decided to let go of him and just go with the flow. Sicarius ran out of that small circle, kicking a few in the face while making his way over to Arashi.

Avis was somewhat on the stairs with the girls. He was the one at the end of the staircase, preventing most from getting up there. Of course, there was another staircase they could use, but he figured he would guard this one, because Sicarius and Arashi seemed to have it pretty well up there. Plus, they had the medics in case something happened to them, like a scratch or what not.

Arashi and Sicarius fought next to each other, swiping their weapons about, heads going everywhere, blood splattering around like rain... and doing a pretty kickass job with fighting.

Finally, after the numbers had dwindled to the point where they all could go to the top and fight without trying, the group continued moving, running down the stairs that the girls and Avis had just defended previously. The group all ran together, running into maybe three or four zombies every couple steps. They had just taken out tons, even Minako couldn't estimate how many. Now that they had four or five they had to attack in about seven steps, it was no big deal. The team advanced for the gate. So close, but so far away.

The team stopped behind a wall that was near the gate. Peeking over the side of the wall, a swarm of _them_ lumbered around, groaning and moaning, the only noise they seemed to make.

"Now, we test our theory," Minako said, turning to Harminly.

Harminly grinned. "My time to shine," she said, bending down and picking up a fairly big stone. She pushed some blonde curl behind her ear and stepped out ever so quietly. Harminly walked over to the middle of the ocean of _them_. She stood there silently. One began to approach her, in fact, it was the old vice principal. Her gray-blonde hair was still in it's average hairdo, though a new color was added. Red. Her skin was paler than a ghosts, her eyes having no pupil. Red was blotched around her white, puffy shirt, and turned the black in her skirt a bit darker. The vice principal came face to face with Harminly, like one had earlier with Claudine. It breathed in, then turned the other way and began to walk off in a lazy matter again. Harminly tossed the rock twice, before going back, and tossing it as far as her arm could project it. As soon as the rock shattered, all of _them _around her seemed to stop and listen, then make their way over to where they heard the noise. The rest of the group snuck past them all, then began to run again. The gate was sooo close.

"Just a bit farther, guys!" Minako yelled in a hushed tone. She continued to run off, ready for any ambushing, just in case. Her hair bounced behind her as she ran, the ribbons started to come lose. She didn't care. Minako, unlike Katsumi and Claudine, would rather live then look bad for a second.

Arashi ran next to Katsumi, who lagged a tiny bit behind him, due to extra weight she had to carry. Arashi glanced behind him to make sure everyone was keeping up with him. He realized Minako was right. And quite often. She said that if there was a leader, they wouldn't be having the good aura they were having at the moment, and get jealous over the people who had more power among the group. She also said that if someone was lost, the whole group would be broken, and be goners. She was bossy about it, and could be harsh, but she was correct. He couldn't argue with the right thing.

Sicarius finally reached the bus. He stood next to the opened doors, and told Arashi to get by the other, to make sure everyone was in. Minako went in first, followed by Katsumi, then Claudine, then Harminly. Avis ran in, then Zethenali came last out of the six. Arashi went in before Sicarius. When inside, Sicarius could see that Minako was in the front chair. He sat in the seat right behind her and tapped her shoulder.

"Do you even know how to drive?" he asked.

"Nope," Minako replied, just pressing random buttons, until she got on the automatically closed the doors.

"Oh lord," Sicarius said, beginning to sit back in his seat. When finally resting his head on the cushion, he heard the engine start up and the doors begin to swing closed.

"Wait!"

Minako stood and looked outside the bus. About seven people were running towards the bus, all carrying some odd object that was painted red. She sighed and opened the bus doors immediately, five of them filing it. One, as she could see, a teacher, told Minako to get out of the seat, and that he would drive. Minako glared at him. He thought he could be in charge? He just saved his ass from dying, she should of had more authority! But she sighed and stood, scooted in next to Sicarius, and waited for all the students to get in.

When all were in, the bus's doors closeds. Tons of _them_ started to surround the bus, pounding on the doors, trying to bite the bus, and a lot more. The teacher restarted the engine and waited for the bus to get ready.

They were finally escaping.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Ergg, sorry for the last long, boring, and undescriptive half-chapter. It was late, I was rushed, you get it. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys todays, I definitely put more effort into it. Also, tell me, what do you want to see next? More action? More romance? Anything? Also, sorry for lack of evening things out among characters. I tried my best, but next chapter (this is the end of chapter one) will definitely have a lot more interaction, and according to my plans, everyone has a big role. So here is chapter one part two! Hope you all enjoyed it! **ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE CREATORS OF THE CHARACTERS. STORYLINE GOES TO THE MAKERS OF HIGH SCHOOL OF THE DEAD. MINAKO SATORU IS MINE AND MINE ONLY. **©


	5. Escape from the Dead

The bus finally was speeding down the road, leaving a broken gate and tons of _them_ behind. It's wheeled rumbled over the road, causing the bus to bounce a lot.

Minako, for the first hour, stayed silent and held onto her pigtails, in fear that they would fly around and hit someone in the face, or anything. She captured her surroundings. In front of her was some lame old teacher that she was kind enough to save. On her left was two empty seats, in pretty good quality, except for the average ripped leather from ignorant students. Behind her, pretty much the whole team sat, talking with the new comers. And then to her right, Sicarius. She glared a bit at the back of his head and was about to ask why he sat next to her, but then it came across her mind that she was the one that sat there.

Minako let a long sigh out and rested against the seat, folding her arms over her chest. She stared at the seat in front of her, not sure what to do. Her eyes flickered over to Sicarius for a moment. She sighed again and arched her back, forcing herself to sit up.

"You seem down, what's wrong?" she asked, with an awkward tap on the back of his shoulder.

Sicarius flinched. He forgot Minako was there. He turned around in his seat, staring at her for a moment. "Uh... well, a zombie apocalypse just happened at my school and I saw tons of my teachers be eaten alive...?" he thought up quickly, which was actually a pretty good reason for being upset.

Minako rolled her eyes and tried to pull her arms closer than they already were to her. "Yeah, we've already established that, poindexter," she snorted, rolling her eyes. "I mean, you seem more down than your usual self. You know, the one that sleeps on the roof at school."

"Oh.. well, it's nothing," Sicarius said, not planning on telling her what was really on his mind, even if she begged and pleaded, which she couldn't picture her doing.

Minako scoffed, her signature move, and turned her body away from him, now sticking her legs out into the isle of the bus. Her eyes shot around the bus, counting everyone, to make sure they were there. They needed the whole gorup. The extras wouldn't hurt. After rechecking four times, Minako spun back around on her seat. When she turned back around, he was looking out the window again. She hesitated before speaking again, "You're too distant."

"You're too nosy," he said, immediately after she closed her mouth to finish speaking.

"At least I'm not some quiet azz loner that couldn't get a friend if my life depended on it," Minako hissed in reply. She put her death glare on as soon as he turned around to make his next move.

"Speak for yourself. I actually have friends. You have none. That is.. unless you count the characters in your precious little books," Sicarius spat, returning her glare. Why was she so arrogant?

Minako lowered her jaw and started her next comeback with 'at least', but quickly shut up and turned away from him. Her arms remained crossed, and one twitched a bit.

Sicarius wondered if she was seriously pouting over something like this. He didn't know, and really didn't care, so Sicarius turned his attention back to the window before he had to figure out.

Harminly and Zethenali sat next to each other, the two having their usual conversation about who would kill more of _them_ if they only had five minutes.

"Uh, I obviously would. I mean, I'm strong, and they would all fall in love with me because of my charm," Zethenali tried to logically put, though even if it did make sense, it would be impossible to take him seriously with that big old grin he had.

"UHHHH, no! You have no charm, loverboy. I'm fast, and tough!" Harminly protested, laying back in her seat like a slug.

"More like lazy," he replied, chuckling.

Harminly laughed a bit herself and sat up a bit straighter. "Don't blame me. My dad was the laziest person alive. Eating and sleeping is a bad habit."

"It's a necessity," Zethenali said, the first thing he said in this ENTIRE trip that made sense. "If you don't eat or sleep, you die. Just like you almost did before I saved you azz back there!" he yelled. Make that one and a half things that were correct.

"And by save, you mean nearly kill, right? That whole bat thing.. smoooooooth," she sarcastically stated, giggling a bit at the end. "And of course you have to eat it. I'm just saying eating too much."

Katsumi clung to Arashi in the seat behind those two, talking about how happy she was that they made it out alive.

"Yeah, yeah.. I know," Arashi mumbled, trying to get his arm away from her grip, which was harder than having three of _them_ latched onto you, biting you, and still living in the end. Arashi looked onto the left side of the bus, tons of the 'newcomers' sitting there, just staring at everyone. He caught at least two people staring at his hair. With a little eyeroll, her turned his head away from looking out into the isle, and back to Katsumi, who was going on about how Richard asked Kiara out and how she thought that was so tacky.

"Listen.. Katsumi, we can't focus on other people right now," Arash choked, looking down at her.

"Can we focus on Minako? Her hair is so red. I wonder if she dyes it. That's _soooo _gross. I bet her parents paid for the dye. Word is, they're some big fancy socialite, but she's so childish and bitter because they didn't provide her a proper childhood. Ha! What a wei-"

Arashi interrupted her after listening to her jabber for about twenty seconds. "We can't focus on just Minako. We need to put our attention on the group.. on survival. I know you and her aren't the best of friends, but she saved your life."

Katsumi frowned. "I get it.. we need to focus on living, and once we slay all these zombie freaks, or there's a cure found, or whatever.. then I guess we can go back to our normal lives.. er.. no! Not normal lives like, normal roles. I mean, like, normal lives with family, but in school, we can be friends, right?" She scooted closer to him and put her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah," Arashi agreed, kind of tensing up. The two sat in silence for a few moments, when he finally heard her mutter to herself; 'I still wonder if she dyes it..'. Arashi rolled his eyes.

Claudine sat on the left side of the bus, whining about how her shoes were all blood stained and not pretty anymore to no one in particular. She just hoped someone would listen.

Avis, who was sitting across from her, finally spoke up after hearing what seemed like hours of her moping. "Listen, Claudinetta.."

"Claudine!" she shrieked, crossing her arms. Just stuck out her lower lip, forming a little pout session there.

"I said that. Anyways... Claudine.. They look fine. Seriously. And if it helps, I'll buy you new ones when we get to the city.. just please.. shut up.." Avis said, burying his face into his hands.

"I want new shoes now!" Claudine whined, flailing her arms around. "I just got these from France, just yesterday! I could see my face in these puppies! Now they're all red!"

"I'll buy you two pairs!" Avis said, desperate to get her quiet. "Plus... red is a new fashion statement!"

Claudine immediately stopped her blubbering and looked at him like he was a genius. "That's right, it is! Oooh! I'm the most fashionable one on the bus! More fashionable than Katsumi! Listen up mister, you better buy me a pair of red shoes, and a pair of white, so I can get them naturally red, okay!" She gleamed.

"Uh.. yeah, okay," Avis agreed, finally laying back in his seat. She giggled and scoot up a seat to talk to one of the newcomers.

Minako turned straightforward after a few minutes of just looking away and thinking. She stayed quiet, not sure what to say back to that whole 'no friends' think. It was true. Though earlier in the teacher's lounge, she had called them all her friends. They seemed fine with it. After pondering over all the manipulative and harsh things she could say, she shook her head. Her pigtails bounced around a bit, rubbing around on the seats leather. She sat up and brushed them behind her back, then sighed at became the bigger person; "I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to be so rude. I just need to control my anger."

Sicarius gave her no reply, he just listened to her. His gaze was focused on the window. They passed buildings and houses. The whole streets were deserted. He wondered where everyone was. Usually this part of the city was filled with people. He decided for the best that they were either indoors, safe and hiding, or they fled the place. He didn't know if they were anywhere else. He didn't want to think they were.

Minako looked away, about to go into one of those thinking sessions ago, but stopped herself and looked back, still just staring at his silver hair, the back of his head. Minako bit her lip and looked down to her skirt, and fixed it from moving around so much. Seeing a nasty stain of red around the corner, she grabbed the cloth at the end and used her thumb to rub it away. When the small stain finally blended with her skirt, being just a darker patch of green, she began to apologize again, though doubted he was listening. "I know, I can be a bit arrogant, but everything is just frustrating in life. My parents taught me well, I guess.." Minako lowered her voice down at the last sentence and grabbed a shorter part of her long hair, twirling it around her finger. That was just something she tended to do when in deep thought, nervous, or anything else.

Sicarius's head came out of the clouds at that point. "Um.. yeah, it's fine. Anyways.. we should go talk with everyone... ask the newcomers questions, decide where we are headed.."

Minako nodded in agreement and slid out of her seat. Standing in the isle, she used the seat that were behind her own to pull herself towards where the group had sat. Minako sat down by Avis, who was towards the middle, so she could hear everyone talk over the noise of the bus.

"So where are we headed next?" she questioned, a bit louder than usual, due to the noises of the engine, and running over debris on the road.

"We could all see our family, make sure they're safe," a girl with light brown hair said, raising her hand a bit as she said so. She looked a bit intimidated by everyone. Katsumi, who also scared her a bit, told her to never talk to any of these students if she wanted to be popular and succeed in school. The girl looked at Katsumi and winced, as if she breathed fire and would blow her head off.

Katsumi was too busy cuddling up to Arashi to catch the look.

"That's a good idea!" Claudine squeaked, clapping her hands. "Except.. mama and papa are in France right now.. they will be back next week.. so let's visit someone else's house first! Who wants to go? First who has parents available, we go!" Claudine looked over to Sicarius.

"My parents are dead," he said. Some people blinked at how nonchalant he acted.

Claudine turned to Arashi, only getting a shake of a head for an answer. "Minako, how about yours? Rumors are, your parents are extremely fancy socialites who love to have people over! Sounds so welcoming!"

"I don't know.." Minako said, bringing her hand up to form thinking pose. "They don't seem to welcoming lately."

"How close are they?" asked a kid in a corner.

"Uhm.. the next few towns.." she said after some hesitation.

"Let's go then!" Katsumi blurted, letting go of Arashi's now numb arm. "I am dying to go there, too. Ask them if they paid for your hair dye!"

Minako grabbed her right pony tail and held it close. "This is natural, you twit!"

"SO IT IS NATURAL!" Katsumi bounced around, pointing a finger at her. "I knew it! Knewwwwwwwwww it!"

Minako's whole face turned red.

Harminly snorted. "Of course it's natural. Minako isn't one to dye her hair. She's too lonely for that.. or.. maybe she does to get attention.. I don't know." Harminly smacked her lips and rolled a bit, basically laying in her seat. "I'm tired."

"Yeah, me too. Let's go to her house, we can sleep in actual beds. Maybe I can share a bed with one of these ladies?" Zethenali suggested with a wink. He dodged the Harminly's fist, it nearly hitting him right in the jaw.

Minako huffed, "I told you guys, it's a few towns away-"

"-meaning that it will take a few days to get there," Katsumi finished her sentence.

Arashi nodded a bit at her point. "Um.. then where will we be staying until then? We can't be on this bus forever.. No food or anything."

"No food!" Claudine yelled, putting her hands on her stomach. Her eyes got huge. "With no food, my tummy will hurt more than it does already!"

Minako rolled her eyes. "Listen up, we're not staying on this bus, that's for sure. Just.. for now we will be. We should all get some sleep.. It's getting dark," she said, looking out the window.

Avis nodded. "I agree.." He stretched a bit in his seat and rolled over so he was facing the window. With one yawn, he was asleep.

Soon, all fell asleep.

Minako yawned and rubbed her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the sunlight coming through the windows. Being still somewhat asleep, she tried to bat it away from her eyes, but then realized it wasn't a physical character. The second thing she realized was that the bus wasn't moving anymore. At that note, she sat straight up in her chair and looked around. Everyone around her remained sleeping. Minako archered her back and threw her arms into the air, having a nice and long stretch. She stood up and bent her legs a few times before walking towards the front of the bus. She didn't enjoy sleeping while sitting up. It was uncomfortable. When at the front of the bus, she looked out the front winshield to see billions of cars in front of the bus. Minako frowned and went over to a side window. A ledge with some wires attached. They were on a bridge. Minako went back to the front of the bus and stared out at some cars in front. Way off in the distance, you could see police officers with megaphones, most likely yelling at people to stay in their cars.

"You guys slept all night," the teacher said, tapping his fingers on the wheel's vinyl.

"Yes, sensei.. defending yourself from billions of _them_ is tiring," Minako added, with a dull yawn.

The teacher glared at the traffic, "Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot. You seem cranky."

"Yeah," Minako muttered. She pushed a strand of hair that dangled in front of her eyes to the top of her head. She put her hands down on the dashboard.

"This thing hasn't gone for hours, dammit.." he said, looking over to her. "You have... interesting eyes. Like pink lemonade."

"Topic changing, eh? I suppose.. if I had a dime for everytime I heard that. But seriously, you're like.. fourty-five. Don't hit on me," Minako ordered, pushing her weight away from the front. She turned around and walked off, down the isle.

"Fourty-three.." the 'chauffeur' muttered as she swayed off.

Minako tried to tip-toe along the bus, going back to her seat, though didn't do it successfully, because right as she passed Arashi, she saw his eyes blink open.

"Morning," Arashi said, gently pulling away from Katsumi's grip.

Minako sat in an empty chair and nodded her hello. She ran a few fingers through her long, red hair, trying to think of what next.

"So pink lemonade? That's how people describe your eyes?" Arashi laughed.

"Oh, shut up," Minako answered back, with a smirk.

An hour after, the whole group was huddled together in the seats. A few times they would hear gunshots and people screaming from cars, they could easily guess that some of _them_ were out there.

Claudine wiped the sand from the corner of her eyes and yawned. "We should introduce each other," she suggested. "My name is Claudine Estoda, I am the fa-!"

"Fashionista of school, we know," Avis said, rubbing his eyes right after her. "Avis Barb."

Harminly giggled, "Hehe.. Barb. Name is Harminly, call me Harm. And this is Zethenali." She pointed to the boy who was lazily sitting in his seat, feet propped up on the seat in front of him.

"Minako, Sicarius, Arashi, Katsumi," Minako said, pointing to each person as their name was mentioned.

"My name is Ryu," said a boy with a shaved head. "As you can see.. I went to your school."

Minako nodded and said hello to everyone when the introductions had finished. "So.. I suppose we're headed to my house.."

"If we ever get out of this traffic," a gruff voice pointed out. Everyone turned to see the teacher standing before them all. "Mind if I sit back here with you all?"

Claudine scooted over, letting the driver sit in the seat with her. "Here you are, Mr. Fong."

"So that's his name?" Arashi said, putting it in the back of his mind. He had to remember.

"Yep! He was my sensei last year," Claudine lifted her head high, as if she was proud when she said so.

"So what's the plan?" Mr. Fong asked, glancing around at everyone.

Zethenali shrugged. "Just about to figure that one out."

"Ahh, and who is your leader?" the sensei asked, rubbing his chin.

"We've already decided no leader will be necessary," Harminly said, looking up at the teacher. "We're going as equals."

"And why would that be? Don't we need someone to organize the plans?" Mr. Fong said, pushing his hair back.

"This isn't a tea party," Sicarius snapped.

Ryu frowned, "Well.. maybe someone leading us wouldn't be so bad. I mean, we need someone to organize our plans.. wash our clothes.."

Minako shifted in her seat. "Authority isn't something we need right now. This has just begun.. we need not to focus on self-interest. The important thing is that we get the group away safe."

Mr. Bei looked at Minako oddly and stood, just to bend down and get to her level. "Listen up, lemonade eyes. Yesterday I acted nice to you all, but you guys are still teenagers. You need order," he said, trying to act as nice as possible.

"Your breath smells of fish and alcohol. Some teacher you are." Minako put her hand on his nose and pushed his face away.

Sicarius coughed. "Um.. maybe we should not talk about this."

"Or how about this? These dunderheads obviously want some authority around here, want to be stepped on by this guy. So, if you're in for this, stay here. But I do not wish to be ordered around like a five year old," Minako said, standing up and heading towards the exit.

All seven in her group stood and followed her out the door. They hopped off the bus and towards the edge of the road, weaving through the cars that were trying to get away as well. They could hear police officers on the megaphone directing walkers where to go. The group soon reached the sidewalk and went along, walking between other people. Older people, adults, children, babies, you name it, they were there.

"That was a bit straightforward," Zethe muttered to Harminly, the two walking next to each other, only a bit behind the group.

"She's a straightforward girl..?" Harminly suggested. "Maybe she has something against the teacher."

"I just think it's that she doesn't like being ordered around," Avis said, breaking right into the conversation.

Claudine joined as well, "Yes, that seems to be her character. Mr. Fong was rather kind last year.. maybe they have some history? Perhaps she got in trouble, and he was the one who caught her?"

Avis shrugged. He didn't know, he guessed no one would figure out either. She seemed too secretive.

The group walked on.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Yeah, I know. It's about 3000 words, pretty short compared to my last one. And not so descriptive, but I was sort of eager to set it out, and am rushing for these plans some of the creator's have made. ;3 And I know the whole leaving the bus scene was pretty vague, but they needed to get out of there. Away from the group. Also, we will be seeing more of Ryu later. Thanks to his maker, sorry I rejected you, but he will most likely be a part later on. Same to the other creator's, however I haven't gotten feedback yet on still being able to use them. As said before,**I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS BESIDES MINAKO SATORU. **Thank yew.


	6. Night of the Dead

The group shuffled throughout the sidewalk, going around families, singular people, and Avis even thought he saw a kindergarten class. All were being directed to police off to where they would be 'safe'. Minako wasn't sure as to which bridge this was, mainly because she fell asleep as the teacher was driving on to… 'safety'.

Arashi ran up to Minako who was constantly disappearing in the crowd, finally getting away from Katsumi for a minute while she discussed everything with Claudine. "Um… is everything alright? You guys seemed alright before, and now you called him an idiot and got us all off of our bus.."

"Yeah, I'm fine… It's just… I don't like being ordered around by adults," Minako said, not sure if that was an excuse or not. It was true, but for some reason he just set her off, and normally she could tolerate bossy and annoying adults, considering she was the daughter of her parents, possible the most annoying adults to ever live.

Arashi shrugged and began to lag behind her, checking back every few minutes to make sure everyone was following. Over the heads of the other pedestrians, he could count all the other six of them following behind him, and had already acknowledged that Minako was in front, racing away. He still wondered what the problem was.

Avis scuttled along, his eyes flickering around to everyone's faces. Everyone looked scared. He was, too. He was sure the whole team was. No, he was positive.

A loud scream set the whole crowd silent, followed by the echo of gunshots. Minako stopped and looked up at the sky. For a moment, everything was silent. Absolutely everything.

For a moment, while the silence was issued, Harminly forgot all about.. well, everything. It was the first time in a long while where there was nothing going on. Though quickly, she was reminded that the apocalypse was going on, because she was shoved into Zethenali, and everyone was screaming and running.

"Ow! You stepped on my feet!" Claudine shrieked, pointing to a man who was running with his offspring.

Sicarius was shoved around like a ragdoll, people shoving him for survival. A couple times he attempted to yell out to everyone that they were being idiots and running towards _them_, but they didn't listen and kept running towards where they heard the gunshots. He shook his head and focused back on the group. Sicarius looked around for the team throughout everyone who was going bezerk. "Arashi, Katsumi! Guys!" he called out over the loudness of people.

Minako stood in her same position, looking up at the sky. She narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on her weapon she currently possessed, as if she was mad at the sky.

Avis finally found Minako, though caught her sitting there like she was paralyzed. He grabbed her shoulders from the back and shook her around, to get whacked in the leg with the tennis racket.

"Stop," Minako ordered, pushing him back after the hit in the shin. Minako went back to staring into the horizon.

Katsumi was latched onto Arashi's arm, being knocked around from people who were running aimlessly and thoughtlessly. "These people are going to be eaten!" she yelled to no one in particular. She got a nod from Arashi, then was turned by him before a fat man carrying two kids and a watermelon. _Talk about multitasking.._ Katsumi thought, after finally figuring out why he had yanked her off her path.

Harminly and Zethenali ran around, desperately looking for people in the team. They had been the last in line, meaning when all stopped, they were the ones who were separated from all more than ever.

Claudine had finally found Avis and Minako after tapping on possibly billions of brown haired men, thinking they were possibly Avis Barb-ie doll. She decided she would call him that.

Minako closed her eyes tight, then opened them up frantically. She turned to Avis and Claudine, the two who stood next to her at the moment. The sounds of people screaming and crying for help, _them_ eating their flesh and making the humans _their_ kin, and gunfire filled her ears.

"How do you suggest we get out of her, Satoru-san?" Avis asked, rolling his eyes a bit. She seemed so deep in thought a second ago, and now she looked more puzzled than a deaf person at a ventriloquist's show.

Claudine jumped up and down, then pointed to a jeep with the doors wide open. "Over there! We can escape!" she squealed, holding her pipe up to her chest. "Come on!" she screeched, running off to the Jeep. She got in the passenger seat and closed the door tight, then waved over the two.

Minako rolled her eyes and gave her racket to Avis without asking for him to hold it. She cupped her hands over her mouth and called out, "Sicarius! Arashi! Katsumi! Zethenali! Harminly! Come quick!"

The five that's names were called quickly responded after looking for the pink-pigtailed girl. Soon, they had all met up. Avis pointed to Jeep, and all looked at Claudine, who was repetitively honking the horn. The seven of them raced over to the jeep, all hoping in. Arashi got in the front seat, the other six all squeezing in the back. The keys still left in the ignition, Arashi turned them to the left and listened to the engine purr. He floored the gas pedal, driving around cars that were abandoned and flipped over.

The police officers, who were busy shooting, had set a barricade when _they_ were in sight, so no cars could get past and have the passengers in danger of becoming one of _them_.

"Drive back, Arashi! We'll find a new way!" Harminly barked, holding onto the bar that was glued to the top of the car. Arashi was going faster than anyone she had ever seen. With that bump in the way, the cops, and _them_, Harm was sure that they would be going through some trouble.

"Minako, your house is this way, right?" Arashi asked, glancing back at her. Holding the wheel so hard, his knuckles turned white.

"Well, yes.. but.. we can always turn around.. Of course, turning around and trying to find another way would be a long while, but-"

"We're going this way," Arashi declared, pushing down on the gas pedal as much as he could go. The window that Zethenali sat next to had a large crack in it, and a hole the size of a rock, allowing the team to hear everyone outside.

Sicarius stared out his window, watching everyone cower. Few police officers were left on the bridge. He could of sworn he saw some run for the edge and jump into the river. The ones left were working on defending the citizens, though looking in another direction, Sicarius could see one being transformed into one of _them_; a monster.

Katsumi wrapped her arms around the head of Claudine's seat and pushed her whole body against it, then closed her eyes and grit her teeth. "This is gonna be bumpy!"

Minako grabbed onto the seatbelt, though didn't bother putting it on, in case she needed to evacuate from the car.

Claudine covered her eyes up with her hands, totally forgetting about her safety and trying to prevent herself from flying out the window.

Arashi concentrated hard, unsure of why he did, because all he really needed to do was drive over the huge borders, then land in some zombies and try not to die… He took his unsureness back. _Yeah, no biggie..._ he thought, rolling his eyes.

The jeep sped down the road, rather battered up, but good enough to keep the group going. Everywhere they looked, they saw people being turned against them with only a bite to convince them. They were nearing the boundaries in which no one was supposed to venture out of, they didn't care. Their goal was to get to Minako's house, and fast, before the whole world turned into this mess.

"Everyone grab onto something," Minako said, rather calmly for the occasion. She kept her eyes opened and watched out the from windshield. Minako wanted to see the results of this little happening.

The car sped up a metal slope that was created by a large 18-wheeler and soared through the air. Zethenali smashed his head into the window, cracking the glass even more. He moaned and rubbed the new bump on his head.

"Look! We're going over them!" Claudine yelled, pointing down to everything below her, including hungry zombies, scared pedestrians, and police that were mad at them for being able to escape.

"Yeah, we know!" Harminly yelled in annoyance, referring to Claudine's obvious statement. She climbed over Zethenali and looked out the window, seeing they were about to fall down. She muttered something about gravity being completely unfair and pulled her head back inside the vehicle.

The jeep finally landed on the ground and skidded along the road, rumbling as it went along. When the automobile had finally stopped, Arashi, the 'chauffeur' of the evening, looked into the cracked rearview mirror. He saw tons of _them _parading towards the car, some reviving from dying and then joining in. The living were either dying, or jumping off the bridge, or running the opposite direction. The police, still behind the barricade, used megaphones, attempting to calm the people, tell them to not get our of their cars no matter what, and everything. The police didn't have much success. Arashi saw some pull out some long-range guns and aim towards the jeep. Apparently, the law and the team weren't exactly 'congruent' at the moment. Arashi grabbed the wheel and floored the pedal again, the jeep starting to speed off. He hoped nothing bad would happen, but knowing their luck, it would.

Minako shook off the tiny daze she had been caught in and climbed over the back seat of the jeep. In the back, a rifle laid, halfway loaded, other bullets scattered around the back. Thinking as to why someone would leave a rifle in the back of a car in a time like this, where they could easily just do what Arashi did and escape with their lives, she didn't know. Minako fumbled to set the ammo inside the gun. Climbing back over the seat, she opened up the sun roof and stood up on the seats. Minako positioned the heavy gun and looked through the scope, not sure who her first target was.

Sicarius scooted besides Minako's legs and stood as well, so his upper half was hanging out of the top next to her. He felt the car shake a bit due to the uneven ground and the bullets that stuck into the back of the car.

Minako shot once she found a zombie that look like a big threat, hitting it square in the head.

"How do you know how to operate a gun..?" Sicarius questioned. Minako seemed more like a close range fighter to him.

"I'm using math, I guess," she said in reply, shooting down another as best as she could with the car zooming away.

Sicarius frowned and shrugged. "That'll work then... need any help?"

"No more guns," Minako said, shooting another in the forehead. That one ricochet into others, and about twenty went falling down. She lowered her gun and sank back down in her seat, now squished between Katsumi and Sicarius.

"I didn't know you knew how to operate a gun," Claudine said with a dull tone, blinking a few times.

"Math," Minako stated, though she doubted the ditzy brunette would get it. She figured she was correct, because she got an awkward nod in reply.

Arashi sighed. "It's morning and already tons have been turned.."

"We should get out of here, before we become part of that tons," Avis said after not speaking for awhile. He felt frozen the whole time.

"That's what we're doing," Arashi pointed out, tapping his fingers on the wheel.

"My head," Zethenali moaned, being hovered over by Harminly.

"Are you okay, perv-boy?" she asked, poking and prodding at his face.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine… I meant to say.. my head.. feels awesome.. because I'm strong and awesome… and would make a perfect leader," Zethenali thought out, getting a groan of annoyance from maybe the whole entire team.

Avis stared out of the closest window. They had just passed the bridge, he was now staring out at the body of water which the bridge had crossed over. It looked so bright and blue, too happy for a glum day like this. Odds of survival weren't too great in a time like this, especially when you just watched thousands of people be turned into _them_, and then you had to think that Japan was big, and that getting the correct number of people that were now against them was this number times four billion. Of course, that was an exaggeration. Or was it? He didn't know what exaggeration meant anymore. When he was told to act calm in a zombie apocalypse, he considered that as an exaggeration, because it was completely impossible. Now, exaggeration lost meaning. Nothing was ever going to be dramatized now, because when they said two billion of _them_ were after the team.. it was the truth.

Claudine squealed. "We got away!"

"All thanks to Arashi!" Katsumi giggled. She leaned over everyone, being on the other side of the car, rubbing his shoulder.

Arashi's cheeks turned bright red.

Minako rolled her eyes. She looked out the same window Avis did. No zombies in sight so far. It was still morning. She didn't know how far they would go, but they definitely had to find a place to stop before night fall. They couldn't keep going. Or could they? She didn't want to, they were cramped in this jeep.

After a long while of driving, Minako stood back up on the seat and looked out the sun roof. The sun was already setting over the water. Why were there none of _them_ here? It looked like they were here. Maybe they left to find some noise. She didn't know, she didn't want to know.

Avis crawled over Katsumi and stood on the seat as well, after noticing Minako hadn't come down for awhile. Avis watched her stare up at the sky for awhile. She seemed too calm. "Are.. are you okay? You seem.. odd lately."

Minako shook her head, never breaking her gaze from the sky. "The sky just… looks really pretty in a time like this." She lifted an arm and extended a finger, tracing a few red and purple clouds.

Avis chuckled a bit and looked to what she was tracing. They had been smooshed in the car for hours, it was already almost night. He wished they could find somewhere to stay.

"Look, there's a house with the door wide open!" Arashi hollered from inside the car.

"Oooh! Sleep! Shower! FOOODD!" Claudine and Katsumi yelled in unison, flailing their arms around.

Minako rolled her eyes and sunk back down to her seat, to where she was sitting. Avis joined her, taking the place of where Katsumi used to sit.

Arashi took a sharp turn, nearly sending Sicarius right out the window.

"Jeez, you could of eased into it.." Sicarius mumbled, getting a small laugh in reply. He rolled his eyes slightly, but brushed the feeling off his shoulders.

Arashi parked near the gate of the house and got out, slamming the door tight behind him. Waiting for the rest to come out, he observed the yard. Flipped chairs, pink flamingos, newspapers, and a lot more were scatted around the yard. Some of the gate even broke down. The door was wide open.

Everyone else climbed out of the car.

Harminly pointed to the door right away. "There might be zombies in there.. I vote I check, because I'm awesome."

"Yeah," Zethenali snorted. "Awesome at almost getting us murdered!"

Everyone looked at Zethenali, glaring. It was him that almost got all of them killed. He smiled cheesily and shut up real quick.

Harminly rolled her eyes and went to the car, grabbing Zethenali's bat from the back seat. She closed the door afterwards and walked past all the destruction in the front yard. Entering the front door, Harminly soon disappeared down the main hall.

"What if some of _them_ are in the house?" Claudine asked nervously, hugging herself.

"We'll hear her scream," Minako stated.

Katsumi pretended she was scared about the whole 'scream' part and latched onto Arashi's arm like she was a koala and he was her tree.

Both Sicarius and Minako rolled their eyes at that.

Harminly came out a few minutes later, not looking any different then she was previously. "All safe! Let's goo!"

Arashi uncomfortably walked into the house, dragging the blonde girl right behind him.

Minako and Sicarius, the two left, stood outside in silence for a few moments.

Sicarius coughed awkwardly a few times, but Minako stayed silent. "Um… well we better get inside, before some of _them_ come… or the group takes up all the hot bath water…" he pointed out, getting a nod in reply.

Minako walked into the safe house, still in a daze. She seemed off today, that's what everyone was whispering about.

Sicarius followed right behind her, staring her up and down. She seemed so weird today. Maybe she was thirsty or hungry, or had a bad night's sleep. Even though she was bossy and rude, and he wouldn't normally be talking to her if none of this happened, and wouldn't respect her much if he knew her in school; he didn't really respect people often, he needed a reason. But like she said before, he wanted to make sure he was okay, because losing someone in the group would be bad, it'd ruin the whole organization.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Still sort of slow. :/ I had to get them to the safe house. Great news, everyone! Next chapter will feature some of the creator's scenes. I have reached out to everyone that has been selected in my story and asked for something involving their characters, and basically all related to the safe house! So, that being that, the next chapter will feature their parts. Thanks, Arashi, and Valeric for the scenes. Also, I apologize for grogginess and shortness of this chapter, I had to get it out. Like the one before, it is sort of a fill-in chapter, getting them from Point A to Point B, but not exactly critical to have. Next chapter will be more fun. ;D Also, school is all up in my life, so chapters will be sort of slow for the first few weeks of school, when I have to stress out about getting into routine. Otherwise, perhaps next week, they will return to the good ol' chapters we love! :D Thanks for understanding!


	7. Tucked Away from the Dead

The group soon all met up in the front room of the house.

Arashi looked around. "Cool, we can-""SHOWER!" Claudine shrieked and ran, but Minako grabbed her by the back of her collar making her run in in place. It looked very comical, Zethenali couldn't help but laugh at it."We need room arrangements first, we shouldn't sleep by ourselves… you know, in case." Minako said, "Any requests?" Katsumi's hand shot straight up, "You don't count." Katsumi pouted."Fine, I'll do it. Harm and Katsumi will share a room. Zethenali and Arashi will share. Avis and Sicarius, you two in the next room, and finally.." Minako sighed, "I'll share one with Claudine."

Kasumi, Zethenali, and strangely Harm looked disappointed, but she covered it up before she was noticed."I call first shower." Arashi said, walking into their room."Same!" Harm hollered, running as fast as she could.

Claudine dashed into the room that she would be in. Minako trudged after her.

Sicarius walked into his room after Avis.

Zethenali was about to follow Arashi, but was stopped by Katsumi, who grabbed his arm."Wait! I got an idea."Arashi got out of the shower wearing only his black fishnet Pants. He had a under suit of his robes it was all black and it was skin tight and made of metal fibers to black knives from any living, crazy people. Thankfully Arashi had got a pair of non-see-though ones. He saw that Zethenali had fell asleep on the bed coving himself completely. "Shower is free." Arashi said simply and collapsed on the couch felling asleep in mid blankets flew off the bed showing Katsumi. She walked over to Arashi. "Hey Foxy." That had become her pet name for him since his name was one letter from Kitsune, which meant fox, so he had taken the name and made it his. He was to sweet to deny her request for the got no response, "Arashi?" No response. "I know your faking nobody sleeps that fast!" No response again. She rolled him over and saw he was really fast asleep. "Wow..." She dragged him across the room and to the bed. Katsumi picked him up, using a lot of effort, and put him in her left side. Katsumi went to take a shower, leaving the door unlocked, just in case he was to be faking.

Claudine sat on the bed in her new room. This was a big house! She giggled, a bit bored. Minako demanded she took a shower first, so Claudine let her.

Minako soon came out of the room, wearing a tank and some small shorts, groaning. She pulled the tank top away from her body, though it quickly went back onto her, being really tight. "Is this a whore house?" she asked Claudine. She got a giggle in reply.

Claudine hopped up and into the shower room.

Minako rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, making her way downstairs, into the second floor, where all the boys should have been staying. She went out into the balcony and kneeled down so no one could see her. The moan of zombies were in the distance.

Avis and Sicarius had both taken showers by now and were wearing anything they could find for bed. Without a word, they both left their rooms, both obviously not ready for sleep at the moment.

Zethenali and Harm sat in their new room, after Zethenali and Katsumi did a little switch-a-roo.

"So, you still think you could be the leader of this group?" Harminly asked, laying back.

"Maybe. And you?" he asked in reply, smirking.

"Maybe."

The two had talked in the jeep where they were miserably shoved next to each other and forced to talk. They argued most of the time, but in the end came to the conclusion that they were both idiots.

"Yeah, awesome," Zethenali replied with a sigh.

Harminly sat up and walked out of the room, moaning, "I'm starving." She trudged along, patting her stomach.

The group had been going away at everything for hours. Avis looked around for people, making sure none had turned into zombies. He checked out on the balcony every once and awhile, Minako still out there, staring with a hard glare. Finally, he went out on the balcony next to her. Seeing Minako still on duty, he let out an exhausted sigh. "..how is it going out there, Satoru-san? Any dead beats playing in the horizon?" he asked her.

Minako couldn't help but to give a small smirk to the joke he formed into his question. "No bea-.. I mean, no noise out there, but the dead are still out there, Barb-ie doll." Minako almost went out of character when replying back, which gave Avis an almost surprised look as she nearly went along with his play of words.

Avis took her answer and sat down on one of the outdoor cane chairs, which were simple and not elaborate, like they were purchased from a cheap outlet store.

Minako heard Avis sit in a chair and stare out into the river that was off into the horizon, his focus on nothing else. She lost her train of thought for a second until a can of a popular soft drink came into her view by him.

"Take some time to rest, Satoru-san, we will need our brilliant, fiery tactician to be rested up in case anything happens, ey?" Avis said, still staring off into the river, bridges, houses, and city off into the distance for signs of importance.

Minako wanted to smack Avis upside the head for giving her what sounded like an order, though she knew it came from kindness. She took the soft drink he offered to her, not going to rest, but instead taking the cane chair next to him. She looked out into the river along with him. The moon hung over the river.

Avis did not deviate his sight as she sat next to him, figuring she wouldn't listen to him in the first place.

"I will not take a break because you told me to.." Minako opened the soft drink up and took a swig of the surgery carbonated beverage before continuing with her words, "….but thank you for the drink."

The last part of the sentence surprised Avis, though he felt like he had achieved getting to know the nice side of Minako, or at least some of it. Both continued to keep watch together, keeping one another company, having little conversations over other things rather than the present crisis into the night.

Claudine was looking through the closet, trying to find an outfit that wasn't too skimpy, though that was rather impossible. So in the end, she put on a light green, spaghetti strap tank top and some really short shorts. She looked over to a mirror and twirled around. She felt like a stripper, but it would have to do. Claudine exited the room, going down into the kitchen.

Soon, Sicarius, Claudine, Harminly, and Zethenali were all in the kitchen, stuffing their faces.

"This… is the best piece of broccoli I've ever tasted…!" Harminly yelled through scarfs of food.

Sicarius, unlike most, just nibbled on his food. He was tired, but hungry. He had to eat first. He felt weird. What was he talking about?

Zethenali had just ate three whole bowls of soup. He finished without picking anything up and moved right out of the kitchen, into the front room. Zethenali quickly collapsed on the couch, and was asleep right as his head hit the cushion.

Harminly moaned. "I'm tired," she said, resting her head on the table. "Will someone carry me up? I don't want to walk!"

Claudine, eating some lettuce, whined. "I'm too weak! Sicarius, carry us both.." she begged, laying her head down on the kitchen table.

Sicarius looked scared. He wasn't gonna carry these girls up. While the two were whining and complaining, he gently got out of his chair and tiptoed upstairs.

Harminly, getting tired of complaining, fell right out of her chair, asleep on the ground.

Claudine fell asleep with lettuce in her mouth.

The next morning Arashi woke up feeling arms around him. _I didn't know Zethenali swung that way... _he thought. Arashi almost gasped hearing a sigh that sounded very similar. "Ka-Katsumi?""Oooh, Foxy-kun! I didn't know you liked S&M," she said in her sleep, and pulled Arashi closer into her making his whole face burn red. He remembered Katsumi slept for a long LONG time when she was comfortable, or at least that was what she told him, so Arashi was forced to listen to her sleep talk until his whole body turned red with embarrassment. Zethenali walked right in, the first one being up out of the rest."Lucky bastard! I get slapped multiple times yet you get cuddle session with a hot babe? Man fate is cruel."

Arashi shot him a glare from between her arms.

Zethenali pulled out his cell phone and started taking pictures, "Black mail!" He ran out in a giggle fit.

Arashi just sighed and tried to fall asleep again. After all, she was comfortable!

Harminly opened her eyes to find herself and Claudine nose to nose, a piece of lettuce in the French girl's mouth. Claudine's eyes were closed. "You fell asleep on me!" Harminly yelled, pushing her right off.

Claudine woke up with an 'oof', being pushed off of the girl and onto the floor.

"Ew, ew, ew!" Harminly yelled, sitting up and clenching her fists. "I don't swing like that, Frenchie!" she called, clenching fists.

Claudine finished eating the lettuce and licked her fingers, then replied in a calm matter. "I fell, I didn't mean to."

Harminly stood up and stormed out of the room, still making 'ews'.

Minako was asleep on the couch, a blanket covering up part of her body. Her mouth was slightly open, she snored a bit.

Avis was out on the balcony again. It was about four in the morning, from looking at the way the sun was. He kept watch, he could hear the moan getting closer. They would have to get out of there pretty soon.

Minako sat up quicker than lightning, her face beaded with sweat. She wiped the dumb expression off of her face and pushed the blanket off of her. Looking around the room, she seemed confused. How did she get here? Last time she checked, she was out on the balcony.

"Minako?" Sicarius called, entering the room.

Minako stood up immediately, then remembered with those clothes on, she looked like a hooker, so she grabbed the blanket and covered herself up. "Uh, yeah," she replied, not meaning to.

"Oh.. Um, just making sure everything is okay. Yesterday you seemed… out of it?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah.. Yeah, thanks."

"No problem.." Sicarius awkwardly said, walking out of the room again.

Minako sighed of relief and followed after him, though turned and went up the stairs to where her room was. She looked through her old clothes and fetched her phone through her pocket. Minako punched at the phone numbers and put the tiny cellular device up to her ear, listening to it ring.

"Mama?" Minako cried, hearing the voice of a woman.

"Mina, dear, where are you? Miyuki, Minoru, your father, and I are worried sick about you! Come home immediately, sweetie… We are safe in our home."

_That's what you guys think.._ she thought. "I'm coming home, don't worry. I'm bringing some friends, though.. We've been fending off for ourselves."

"Oh, dear, you must be dirty!" she cried, loud enough to where Minako had to pull her cell phone away. "Let them fight for you, don't do a thing! Dear, you're so important to us.."

Minako rolled her eyes. "Are you sure you're talking to the right girl?"

"Minako! I know we've had our differences in life, but at times like this… it's when family counts the most."

"Mama, why didn't family matter all the other times, then?"

The other line went silent, though she could still hear her mother breathing. "I have bad connection," she finally said.

"And bad excuses," Minako added on, not caring about if her mother would tell her to quit the attitude.

"Minako! Just… just get home, quick."

"Don't count on it," Minako said as her goodbye, hanging up.

Arashi walked into the room, surprisingly not with Katsumi. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing… we should get out of here," Minako said, not looking at her friend.

"Satoru-san, you can tell us when you're upset, you kn-"

"Call me by my real name!" she yelled, stomping and turning to him.

"Uh… my apologies, Minako.."

Minako pushed past him. "Tell everyone to meet downstairs."

Arashi shrugged and went out, telling everyone what he was supposed to do.

Everyone was soon downstairs, sitting on the couches.

"The dead are getting close," Avis pointed out.

Harminly and Zethenali both sneered.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Harminly said with an eye roll.

"I want red shoes!" Claudine stomped, grabbing Avis's arm.

"Shut up!" Katsumi screamed at Claudine, sounding a bit crazed.

Minako rolled her eyes at the group.

Sicarius spoke out, "Let's leave them. Everyone, go look for other things that will be useful. Weapons, clothes, food, medicine, go on."

Arashi nodded. "Come on, let's go," he told Katsumi, bringing her along to find things.

A bit later, the team met back up. All carried big, plastic bags.

"Let's get out of here," Minako concluded, going towards the door. Having the boys unpile the dressers and chairs they used to keep the door shut, the team tiptoed out.

Looking through the broken fence, they could see _them_ out in the distance. Not too far, even.

Arashi pointed over to the side to a bigger van. "Let's use that."

Sicarius nodded and led everyone over to the van. He opened the door up and let the laides all climb in first, taking each bag as they climbed in. He closed the door and went to the back of the van, then had Arashi help him stuff all the garbage bags into the trunk. Closing it, the two went to the front seats.

Arashi backed out, not even using the previous hole they made, but creating a new one. Some pieces of stone fell onto the top of the van after crashing into the stone fence, but they didn't care. Arashi backed out poorly and floored it, going off into the distance.

The team continued on.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Sorry about how sketchy this is. xP At first I had this all complex and made it long,  
>then my computer froze up and I had to wipe it out, so I had to redo this, and it<br>didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but I didn't want to keep you all waiting for  
>me to finally post! Thanks to creators of Arashi and Avis for the scenes! (the scene<br>of Arashi and Katsumi, and Minako and Avis) :D Foxy-kun made me laugh. Anyways,  
>I'm trying people! It will be better... maybe.. but I do want to please you all. Sorry!<p> 


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